The UK's specialist recruitment partner for anodisers, electroplaters, powder coaters, heat treaters, thermal spray businesses and advanced coating operations. A sister company of the EMC Surface Technologies group. We recruit the people who build, run, improve and grow them.
Shortlists arrive that look right on paper. The candidates can't read a bath spec, discuss a rectifier setting or hold a credible technical conversation with your process team.
Every week a key role is unfilled, your line runs below capacity. Generalist agencies take months to understand the job you briefed them on day one.
The wrong person in a process or leadership seat costs you six months and real money. A sector this specialised deserves a recruiter who screens to match.
We've watched good businesses lose months and real money on hires that didn't work. Process lines running below capacity. Quality issues that trace back to a single bad appointment. We get it because we operate in the sector ourselves.
Surface Talent is a sister company of the EMC Surface Technologies group, a UK operating group that owns and runs surface finishing plants. We recruit with the eye of an operator.
We know the chemistry, the kit, the standards and the economics. Briefs are sharper. Screening is tighter. Shortlists are smaller and better.
Connected across the Institute of Materials Finishing and the Surface Engineering Association. UK-wide reach into every process lane.
A proper technical brief. On-site where it helps. We understand what good looks like for this specific hire.
We map the market and approach the shortlist personally. No job-board spray. No shared databases.
Candidates screened technically and commercially. We stay close through offer, onboarding and the first 90 days.
Post-placement support to week 12. If it's not working, we want to know. Rebate structure backs the shortlist.
We work with customers just like you
We recruit across the full breadth of UK surface engineering and metal finishing, plus the adjacent process industries that sit alongside it.
Rack and barrel plating across aerospace, defence, automotive and precision engineering. Decorative, functional and engineering finishes.
Wet processSulphuric, chromic, hard and architectural anodising. Chromate, phosphate and passivation chemistry for aluminium and multi-metal work.
Aluminium and multi-metalArchitectural and industrial powder coating, high-performance liquid paint and protective coating systems. Qualicoat, GSB and specialist contract finishers.
Organic finishingCase hardening, carburising, nitriding, vacuum and induction. Commercial heat treaters and captive in-house facilities.
Thermal processingHVOF, plasma, arc and flame spray, PVD, CVD and thin-film coatings. Wear, corrosion and dimensional work for aerospace, energy and oil and gas.
Advanced coatingShot, grit and bead blasting, shot peening and the chemical pre-treatment lines that sit in front of every coating and plating process.
PreparationSix areas where surface engineering businesses win or lose. We recruit the people who run them.
Managing Directors, GMs and directors across operations, technical, commercial and quality. Retained or contingent, handled with discretion.
Site, production and shift leadership. The operators and managers who own throughput, yield, safety and cost on a working finishing line.
Process engineers, chemists, metallurgists and materials specialists. The people who own bath chemistry, cycle times, fixturing and process development.
Mechanical, electrical, PLC and automation engineering. The people who keep plant running and costs in check.
Quality leadership, technical authority and the regulatory spine. ISO 9001, NADCAP, AS9100, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.
Sales directors, BDMs, key account and technical sales. People who hold a credible technical conversation with the customer and close the order.
Retained or contingent. Permanent, contract or interim. Process floor to boardroom.
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